Method of protecting checks



I March 29, 1927. 1,622,329

C. A. M CORDY METHOD OF PROTECTING CHECKS Filed April 1921 lrzz ezzfarx flitarizey Patented Mar. 29, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES A. MACOO'RIDY, OE ALBANY, NEYV YORK, ASSIGNOB. TO MACCORDY MASTER- CHECK CORPORATION, OF SYRACUSE, NIH/V YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

METHOD 0 PROTECTING CHECKS.

Application filed April 7,

The principal object of the invention is to prevent the altering of checks, drafts and the like.

Other objects will appear in connection with the following description.

The drawing shows a plan View of a check which constitutes onefeature of my invention, and is adapted to be protected by the method which constitutes another feature of the invention.

Referring to the drawings, the body, 1 of the check is preferably made of paper or other opaque material bearing the usual printed data as shown on the face of the check, and provided with the usual blank spaces, 2, for the check number, date, name of the payee, amount of the check, and signature of the drawer of the check, these spaces being opaque and sutficiently absorbent to readily receive the written data in the usual manner.

A portion of the check in the form of a panel, 3, is rendered pervious to light so that it is either transparent or translucent. This panel may be thus rendered pervious to light in any known manner.

It can be thus renderedpermeable to light by impregnating the area forming the panel with a mixture of balsam and turpentine in the proportions of one ounce of Canadian balsam to one-half gill of spirits of turpentine.

By impregnating the' area forming the panel with this mixture, the opacity of the paper is largely destroyed making the area forming the panel more permeable to light than are the other portions of the check.

In other words the particles or fibres of the paper in the area thus treated no longer reflect the light to the degree that the particles or fibres of the untreated paper refleet the light, but most of the light striking the treated area is transmitted through the paper.

The check thus formed can be readily and effectively protected against alteration by disrupting the surface of the panel, 3, along the lines of predetermined indentifying characters indicating the amount for which the check is drawn, to form angular lightreflecting surfaces along said lines.

The paper may be thus disrupted by insane of various well known reeehanieal 1921. Serial No. 459,251.

check-protectors adapted to imprint the amount of the check by shredding or mutilating the paper along the lines of the characters indicating the amount.

For certain purposes of the invention the permeability to light of the treated surface, 8, may be destroyed by disrupting the paper in any known manner along the lines of the identifying characters, whereby minute light-reflecting angular surfaces are formed along said lines, causing said lines to appear in sharp contrast with the surrounding lighttransmitting portions of the paper.

A solution of balsam and turpentine as described readily penetrates the paper sheet throughout its thickness so that the mutilation of the impregnated area can be made from either side of the check. It also discolors the impregnated area, so that when portions of said area are disrupted the contrast between'the disrupted and the undisrupted portions of the impregnated area are in distinct contrast of color or shade which is very noticeable.

Another result of the impregnation of the paper with such a solution is to render the disrupted fibres of the impregnated portion much less susceptible to replacement than are similarly disrupted fibres of the material of which the check is made before impregnation. This is probably due to the fact that after the solution has penetrated the paper and settled between the fibres of the paper, the air pockets formed in the impregnated portion by disruption of the fibres cannot be wholly eliminated by heat and pressure as is the case with ordinary impregnatcd pap-er fibre.

lVhile I have described a solution of balsam and turpentine as suitable for impregnating the paper in carrying out my invention, I do not wish to be limited to this solution, as for certain purposes of the invention it is immaterial in what manner or by what substances the portions of the check to be disrupted are treated to render them more permeable to light than other portions of the check or to adapt them to the carrying out of the various stated'purposes of the invention.

While I have referred more particularly to the use of the invention for protecting the amount at the check, it will be underlye i stood that the invention can be used for protecting any identifying mark or character by which the check is to be identified.

WVhat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A blank for a negotiable instrument or the like, having thereon appropriately designated spaces for the entry of the usual data, the said blank having, further, a delineated space which is more permeable to light than the remainder of the sheet, the said space being adapted to be disrupted by the formation thereon of a plurality of designating characters.

2. A blank for a negotiable instrument or the like, having thereon appropriately designated spaces for the entry of the usual data, the said blank having, further, a clelineated space, the fibers of which when disrupted are less susceptible to replacement than the fibers of the remainder of the sheet.

3. A blank for a negotiable instrument or the like, having thereon appropriately designated spaces for the entry of the usual data, the said blank having, further, a delineated space, which when merely disrupted will leave such disruptions contrasting in shade with the undisrupted part of said delineated space.

4. A blank for a negotiable instrument or the like, having thereon appropriately designated spacer for the entry of the usual data, the said blank having, further, a delineated space impregnated with a substance which renders it more permeable to light than the remainder of the sheet, the said space being adapted to be disrupted by the formation thereon of a plurality of value designating characters.

5. A blank for a negotiable instrument or the like, having thereon appropriately desig. nated spaces for the entry of the usual data, the said blank having, further, a delineated space impregnated with a substance which renders it more pern'ieable to light than the remainder of the sheet, the said space being adapted to be disrupted by the formation thereon of a plurality 0t value designating characters, and when disrupted having its disruptions contrasting in shade with the undisrupted part of said space.

6. A blank for a negotiable instrument or the like, having thereon a plurality of appropriately designated spaces for the entry of the usual data, the said blank having, further, a delineated impregnated space, which when disrupted, presents angular light reflecting surfaces of a different color from the undii-zrupted portions of said space.

7. That in'iprovement in the art or" protecting checks and the like which consists in'treating a limited portion of the check to render it more permeable to light than other portions of the check, and then disrupting said treated portion to form lig reflecting angular surfaces along the lines of predetermined characters.

8. That in'iprovement in the art of pro t-ccting checks and the like which consists in impregnating a portion of the check with a substance whereby it is rendered more pervious to light, and then disrupting said portion to form angular light-reflecting surtaces along the lines of predetermined identifying characters.

9. That in'iprovement in the artof prim? ing which consists in impregnating disruptable sheet material with a substance which will cause disrupted portions thereof to reflect light, to a different degree from undisrupted portions of the material, and then disrupting the impregnated material aloi'ig the lines of predetermined characters.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 2nd day of April, 1921.

CHARLES A. MACCORDY. 

